Combination three light and push-button switch



P. H. GERRXE COMBINATION THREE LIGHT AND PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH Filed Aug.18, 1958 INVENTOR. PAUL H. GERRIE.

TTORNEY Q5 1+ 2 -mi fi IE 3 5 II T T 9 H F 0 42 United StatesPatent O3,004,119 COMBINATION THREE LIGHT AND PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH Paul H. Gerrie,Chatham, NJ. I Q14 Cooper Road, Red Bank, NJ.) Filed Aug. 18, 1958, Ser.No. 755,625 4 Claims. (Cl. 200-5114) This invention relates in generalto switches for controlling a plurality of circuits, particularlyswitches for use with incandescent lamps having a plurality of filamentswhereby the filaments may be connected in circuit individually orsimultaneously to provide light of different intensities, for example,low, medium or high, or 50, 100 and 150 watts, respectively.

Generally, known switches of this type are rotary and include a knob sothat if the switch is off and the user desires to turn on the light, hemust first turn the knob to one position whereby the low watt filamentis energized, after which by further turning of the knob in the samedirection the low watt filament is cut out of circuit and a filament ofhigher wattage is brought in circuit and upon further turning of theknob in the same direction, both filaments are brought into the circuit.In order to turn off the switch and all of the filaments, it isnecessary to continue rotation of the knob in the same direction.Consequently, if the switch knob is turned to energize the low wattfilament for use, when it is desired to turn ofii the light, it isnecessary for the user first to turn the knob through the medium andhigh positions in succession. Furthermore, if the user wishes to employthe lamp at the high position, he must first rotate the knob through thelow and medium positions in succession. Also, at times the user mayinadvertently rotate the switch through all three positions more thanonce in an effort to turn oil the switch or to get the switch turned onat the desired position.

Prime objects of the present invention are to overcome these and otherobjections to and disadvantages of known multi circuit switches, and toprovide a switch of this character which shall include novel andimproved features of construction whereby the switch can be turned offdirectly from any of its on, e.-g., low, medium or high, positionswithout the necessity, for example, of turning the switch successivelythrough the diiferent positions.

Another object is to provide a switch of the character described whichshall include a novel and improved construction, combination andarrangement of parts whereby the switch may be turned to any desired onposition, then turned off, and thereafter. again turned on at the sameposition, without movement of the switch into the other on positions.

A further object is to provide such a switch which shall comprise anovel'and improved combination of a generally known type of rotarymulti-light switch for closing the circuit in succession at the low,medium and high positions, and a push button switch for turning oif theswitch or opening the circuit individually at any of said positions.

Other objects and results of the invention are to provide a novel andimproved simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive combination of arotary multi-circuit or light switch and a push-button sWitch;and toobtain other ad vantagesand resultsthat will be brought out by the fol-'lowing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a lamp socket embody- FIGURE 3 isa top plan view of the body portion of the socket as shown'in FIGURE 2;I

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical sectional viewapproximately on the plane of the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a horizontal sectional view approximately on the plane ofthe line 6-6 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional viewapproximately on the plane of the line 7-7 of FIGURE 6 showing theswitch in closed or on position;

FIGURE 8 is a similar view on a reduced scale showing the switch in openor off position; g

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary, transverse vertical sectional Viewapproximately on the plane of the line 99 of FIGURE 8; and I FIGURE 10is a fragmentary composite side elevation and sectional view of the pushbutton lock mechanism for holding the push button in switch-openingposition.

For the purpose of illustrating the principles of the should beunderstood that the invention may be utilized in other types of switcheswithin the spirit and scope of the invention.

, As shown, the switch includes a body portion A in the form of acylindrical block of insulation such as a synthetic resinous compositionor porcelain. The body portion is shown as approximately cylindrical andat one end thereof is a disk B of insulating material that is interposedbetween the body portion A and the metallic screw socket C which issecured to the body portion by rivets D, The body portion has a recess Ethat opens through one end thereof, which is closed by the disk B,

and arranged in said recess and having one end projecting upwardlytherefrom intothe socket C through an opening F in the disk, is astationary contact member G to cooperate with a terminal for one of thefilaments on the base of a' multi-light lamp when the lamp is screwedinto the socket :C.

Also secured in the disk B by tubular rivet H is a central springcontact element I to engage the central terminal of the lamp basew henthe lamp is screwed into the socket, The socket C is directly connectedto one sideof the electrical supply line by means of one of the rivets Dto which the wire is secured by a screw K in usual manner. The otherterminal of the electrical line is connected to the switch by a screw Lthreaded in a terminal plate M that is connected by a tubular rivet Nwhich also secures to the body portion A, a switch connector element 0that has one end portion 1 lying on the upperend surface of the bodyportion A and has a contact arm 2 disposed at right angles to saidportion 1 and extending into a recess 3 in the body portion, as bestshown in FIGURES 6 and 7.

'Also disposed in the recess 3 is a push button spring contact elementsin circuit with the terminals and the respective filaments or otherdevices to be electrically energized, and as shown, a spring shoe 9 isconnected to the contact element G, a similar spring shoe 10 isconnected to the contact element P through the conductor strip Q and athird spring shoe 11 is connected to the central cons,oo4, 1 19 tactelement 1. Each of said contact shoes has an arouate end portion to beengaged by the contact surfaces of a contactor R as best shown inFIGURES 5 and 7. The contactor is shown as comprising a head in the formof a toothed disk 12 of suit-able electrical insulating material havingfour equidistantly circumferentially spaced teeth 13, and a conductordisk 14 having three contact flanges 15, one lying upon the peripheralsurface of each of the teeth 13. A flange for the one tooth 13a isomitted so as to leave the peripheral surface thereof exposed forcontact with the shoes 9, and 11. With this construction, upon rotationof the disk 12 in one direction as indicated by the arrow in FIGURES,the shoes 9, 10 and 11 will be engaged in succession by each tooth,rotation of the disk in the opposite direction being prevented byengagement of the ends of the contact shoes with the teeth 13.

For rotating the disk, it is shown as provided with an integral hollowstem 16 that is rotatably journaled in the body portion A which has asemi-circular groove 17 in which the stem is seated and held by aretainer block 18 that has a groove 19 complemental to the groove 17 asshown in FIGURES 7 and 9. A knob 20 is screwthreaded on the outer end ofthe stem and has a coaxial opening 21 in which is slidably mounted thepushrod 22 of the push-button switch mechanism S which is arrangedwithin the contactor R. The push rod 22 includes a main section 22aformed of suitable insulating material such as a phenolic resin, anintermediate metal detent rod 22b and a head 22c engageable with thepushbutton spring contact element P, all of said parts being disposed inaxially aligned end to end relation to each other and extending throughthe knob 20, stem 16 and toothed disk 12 with one end of the push rodextending beyond the knob as shown so that it may be easily pushed bythe thumb or finger of an operator.

The spring contact element F normally biases the push rod outwardly intothe position shown in FIGURE 7 so that the opposite ends of said contactspring electrically contact with the connector element 0 and conductorstrip Q as best shown in FIGURES 6 and 7. When the pushbutton switchmechanism is in this position, the circuit is closed between theterminal L, M, N and the conductor strip Q whereby the contact shoe 10is also connected in the circuit. When the push rod 22 is pushedinwardly or to the left in FIGURE 7, the spring contact element P iscompressed so as to move its end portion out of contact with theconductor strip Q as best shown in FIG- URE 8, so as to break thecircuit from the terminal L, M, N to the conductor strip Q and contactshoe 10.

Suitable means is provided for releasably locking the push rod and thecontact spring element P in this position, and as shown, theintermediate detent section 22b of the push rod has an enlargementproviding a shoulder 23 with which coact lugs 24 on the free ends ofspring fingers 25, the other ends of which are integrally connected intoa sleeve 28 that is fast secured to the stem 16. When the push rod is inits switch-closing position as shown in FIGURE 7, the lugs 24 aredisposed inwardly beyond the shoulder 23, but when the push rod ispushed inwardly or to the left in FIGURE 7, a tapered portion 26 on thedetent section engages the lugs 24 and pushes them outwardly momentarilyuntil the shoulder 23 has passed the lugs whereupon the lugs snapinwardly and behind the shoulder 23 as shown in FIGURE 8 to hold thepush rod in switch-opening position. When it is desired to again closethe switch, the push rod is momentarily pushed inwardly or to the leftin FIGURE 8, whereupon the fingers '25 are pushed outwardly from behindthe shoulder 23 by a sleeve 27 that has a limited sliding movementlongitudinally on the detent section 22b between the shoulder 23 and theend of the push rod section 22a, the diameter of the sleeve being suchas to spring the fingers 25 outwardly when the push rod is pushed inei yto disengage e s t ai the sho lder 23 as 4 shown in FIGURE 10 and permitthe spring P to force the push rod outwardly and release the fingers 25so that they may be engaged by the tapered portion 26 when the pushbutton is in its outer or switch closing position as shown in FIGURE 7and is next pushed inwardly.

With this construction, it will be understood that the push buttonswitch mechanism in combination with the multi-circuit switch makes itpossible, by rotation of the contactor knob 20 in one direction, toenergize the several circuits, for example, low, medium and high, andpermit any of said circuits to be opened directly without the necessityof turning the knob successively through its different positions.Furthermore, when the contactor is rotated so as to energize any one ofthe circuits, the push button switch enables that circuit to be turnedon and off without further movement of the contactor mechanism knob.More specifically, it will be seen that when the push-button switch isclosed, as shown in FIG- URE 7 and the exposed tooth 13a of thecontactor disk is in engagement with the contact shoe 1t and conductorstrip Q, the other contact elements G and H will be deenergized, butupon rotation of the contactor disk in the direction shown by the arrowin FIGURE 5, the contact member I will be deenergized by engagement ofthe insulated tooth 13a of the contactor disk, and the contact element Gwill be energized, whereupon the further rotation of the contactor diskin the same direction will cause deenergization of the contact element Gand energization of the contact member I, and on further rotation bothof the contact members G and I will be energized simultaneously. Byactuating the push rod 22 at any time, the circuit through all of thecontact members will be broken.

I have shown and described the invention as embodied in certainstructural details and in a certain type of lamp bulb switch which isenclosed in a known type of casing T, but it will be understood thatthis is primarily for the purpose of illustrating the principles of theinvention, that the invention may be embodied in other types ofmultiple-circuit switches, and that many modifications and changes maybe made in the construction of the switch within the spirit and scope ofthe invention.

What I claim is:

1. A switch-socket for a multi-light electric lamp having a terminal foreach filament and a common terminal for all filaments, saidswitch-socket including a body of insulation having a socket for saidlamp that also provides a terminal element to contact said commonterminal of the lamp, a plurality of other contact members one for eachof said filaments, a switch in said body of insulation to controlconnection and disconnection of one of said contact members to and fromone of said terminals, respectively, and a second switch including acontaotor movably mounted in said body of insulation to controlconnection and disconnection of said one contact member, respectively,to and from the other contact members upon movement of said contactor inone direction providing for opening of said circuit through any of saidcontact members and said one terminal by the firstmentioned switch andso that the filaments can be ener gized successively individually andsimultaneously by the first-mentioned switch and any one thereof can bedeenergized by said first-mentioned switch independently of the secondswitch.

2. A multi-circuit switch including a body of insulation having a recesstherein, a terminal thereon for connection to each wire of an electricalsupply line, a plurality of contact members mounted on said body withinsaid recess including one for each of a plurality of elements to beenergized by electricity from said supply line, a rotary switchcontactor having a head disposed within said recess for connecting anddisconnecting said contact members to and from one of said terminals,respectively, said contactor having a tubular stem coaxial with saidhead and journaled. for rotation. in said body and extending outwardlyfrom said recess, and a reciprocable pushbutton switch to controlconnection and disconnection of one of said contact members respectivelyto and from said one terminal including a spring contact element and areciprocable operating rod coaxial with said stem and extendingtherethrough with one end abutting said spring contact element, wherebythe circuit through any one of said contact members and said oneterminal can be opened upon movement of said operating rod in onedirection, said spring contact element being normally yieldingly held incontact with said terminal and with said one contact member, saidoperating rod upon movement into one position actuating said springcontact element out of contact with said one contact member, and meansfor releasably locking said operating rod in said position.

3. A multi-circuit switch as defined in claim 2 wherein the last-namedmeans includes coacting parts one of which is secured to and within saidstem and another of which is carried by said operating rod.

4. A multi-circuit switch as defined in claim 2 wherein said springcontact element comprises a Z-shaped spring having one end normallycontacting said one terminal and the other end engaged by said operatingrod and normally influenced by its inherent resiliency into contact withsaid one contact member and being movable out of contact with said onecontact member upon movement of the operating rod in said direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS954,117 Lux Apr. 5, 1910 1,132,997 Apple Mar. 23, 1915 1,170,063 HeeneyFeb. 1, 1916 1,951,209 Rickard Mar. 13, 1934 2,163,069 Stringer June 20,1939 2,576,836 Hilsinger Nov. 27, 1951 2,603,725 Dietrich July 15, 19522,676,235 Kennedy Apr. 20, 1954

